In anticipation of the largest murder trial Charlottesville has
seen, a final hearing was held on Friday, with attorneys for
accused girlfriend-killer George Huguely unsuccessful in keeping
what they called "prejudicial" photos of slain UVA student Yeardley
Love from being admitted as evidence. They were, however, able to
prevent news photographers from getting perp-walk photos of Huguely
as he moves in and out of the courthouse, at least while the jury
is being chosen.

Both places, Kirby says, "allow folks to just be lazy, as we like to say."

Dave McNair

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When the Lazy Parrot Grill folks took over the
former Brix Café space at the Pantops
Shopping Center earlier this year, owner Kevin
Kirby worried that some people might think the Lazy Parrot
Grill, also in Pantops, had moved.

Prior story

The Lazy Parrot Backyard BBQ now in the former
Brix space may share the Lazy Parrot name– which Kirby has
trademarked– but the two places are not, well, parroting each
other.

"I've always wanted to do a second venture," says Kirby, who was
born and raised in Charlottesville, "and when one came up so close,
I couldn't resist."

While the Grill is known for wings– our friends at food blog
Mas to Miller's deemed the Grill's wings one of
the two best in Charlottesville– the Backyard BBQ is making a stab
at offering the best, well, you know.

"It's a passion," says Kirby. "I will never cut down another BBQ
joint because I now have the utmost respect for smokers. I have had
many 3am wake up calls just to get the food on the smoker."

As Lazy-goers know, the Grill has 22 TVs to go with its wings, a
thrivin...

Douglas Muir points out the restaurant's lighting plan to his wife, Valeria "Bella" Bisenti, and General Manager Justin Heilbrun-Toft.

hawes spencer

What does the man who created Charlottesville's Wild
Wing Café do for an encore? He builds another restaurant
on West Main Street– only this time it's not a television-laden
sports bar, but instead an intimate Italian eatery. And it will
honor his wife, a 37-year-old native of Rome, who is lending her
own nickname to what will be called Bella's.

"The menu is very simple," says owner Douglas Muir. "We're going
to have nine entrées and one special each day."

Key to the concept are family-sized portions and prices that are
a "happy medium" between the $14.95 Wild Wing meals and
Charlottesville's high-end restaurants where an alcohol-accompanied
dinner for two can easily top $100. The target price-point at
Bella's, he says, is $25 per person including wine; for lunch, it's
about half that.

"You'll see two prices for each item," says Muir, noting that
oversized plates are intended for three or four people while even
the small plates may be too much for most appetites.

"You're always gonna walk out with food from Bella's," says
Muir.

"Americans eat fast and they're done," says Muir, noting that
it's not unusual for an Italian meal to start at 6pm and end at
midnight.

"If you're having real good food," his wife Valeria Bisenti
interjects, "it'll last to one or two."

Indeed, the couple plan to keep the doors open until 2am on
Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays– with a 10pm closing t...

Best street theater: The 17 Occupy
Charlottesville protesters arrested December 1 for trespassing in
Lee Park are found guilty in court January 27. Veronica Fitzhugh,
who was charged with indecent exposure when she took off her
clothes, shows up at General District Court wearing an orange
jumpsuit, handcuffs, and black-face makeup to protest the high
number of African Americans in prison. She's found not guilty of
indecent exposure.

Biggest blow to zoning: The Virginia Supreme
Court rules January 13 that planning commissions don't have the
authority to grant waivers in a case brought by Albemarle resident
Kent Sinclair, who sued Cingular and the county over a waiver
granted for a 103-foot cell tower adjacent to his property,
Charlottesville Tomorrow reports.

Biggest investment: RelayFoods.com gets a $3.1
million capital influx from Battery Ventures, an investment firm
out of Massacusetts. Bryan McKenzie has the story in the
Progress.

Biggest UVA critic:The Price is Right
host Bob Barker writes UVA president Teresa Sullivan asking the
university to stop using cats to train med students to insert
breathing tubes in infants, Ted S...

As Charlotte Ding drove behind a public bus in Rochester, New
York, an advertisement on the back of the vehicle pleading for help
with an unsolved murder grabbed the former Charlottesville
resident's attention– and sparked a brainstorm.

Recent story

"I thought it would be a great way to draw attention to the
Morgan Harrington case in Charlottesville," says Ding, who
relocated to New York last year but still volunteers for the
Harrington family's nonprofit ad campaign Help Save the Next Girl.
Excited at the prospect of raising awareness about the mystery
around the second anniversary of the discovery of Morgan's remains
on January 26, Ding contacted Charlottesville Area Transit in late
January ready to make a bus-side ad purchase. She didn't get
far.

"I was told the ad wouldn't be accepted," says Ding, noting that
the charity had been prepared to pay full price– about $250 per ad
per month. "I couldn't believe it," says Ding. "Why wouldn't they
want the money?"

"We only accept ads from commercial businesses," explains
Transit marketing director Kristen Gleason, who says the
no-nonprofit ad policy has been in place for years, prior to her
2008 assumption of that position....